Man, I had no idea that I'd touch off the 'mother of all threads' here. I guess that lamenting the end of the season, not to mention considering whether or not it really needs to be the end, really brings us outta the woodwork! I only hope that somewhere somehow some ski area management types, ASC and otherwise, read this thread and take it to heart. <BR> <BR> Really enjoy seeing all the archived pics of Kmart's extreme early and late seasons, and I may very well be in a lot of them! The Cascade pics especially bring back some memories. Someone posted pics from 10/2/92- I was there the day before for the opening and still have the T-shirt that K gave to all who came, adorned w/ autumn leaves and proudly stating "I skied Killington VT Oct 1 1992!". It was such a big deal that our local NBC TV affiliate even made the 2+ hour drive to file a story about the opening - I still reminisce about it with the ski fanatic reporter/anchor when I run across him! <BR> <BR> There were many years where myself and others watched the temperatures like a hawk and as soon as there was a 24-48 hr period with more below freezing temps than not, we just *knew*. More than once I was in a position where I just had to be at opening day but also had to be elsewhere later in the day, and it meant having to start driving to K in the wee hours before they changed the phone report to confirm they would open...and I almost always was able to make the right call. In recent years I too have occasionally badgered the poor switchboard lady, asking if they made snow during identical windows. I've felt sorry for her when she has had to lie and say "Oh no, it hasn't been cold enough" when we all now perfectly well that it had been. It was very sad when they opened the 2001/2002 season in Nov, breaking a string of at least 15 years of Oct opening, when there had been a couple of snowmaking windows during Oct. I'll hasten to add that I do, and did, give them some credit for trying something new with the first ever top-to-bottom opening this season (they could have opened less terrain earlier, but the trade off was at least a little easier to swallow IMO)! <BR> <BR> Marc's piece lamenting the removal of the K2 chair was great. Too bad they couldn't put a rope tow (are those even legal anymore?) or poma to serve upper Cascade but, as noted, the Glades chair isn't all that far away. Ironically, my fondest memory of skiing Cascade is actually from the post-K2 chair years, when I hiked up to their public relations "showcase" (their word) patch of manmade on Sept 30, 2000, thus making it all 12 calendar months that I've put skis to snow in the east (August was covered by doing Tucks w/ LftGly the previous year). Geez, you'd think they'd have let me take the skis on the gondy for all the floor-show amusement I provided for the leaf peepers, but no I had to hoof it up the old K2 line and back. We always ridiculed Sugarbush when they made just enough snow to stick a couple of employees on it for a photo op in lieu of actually opening- K was different that way until recent years. <BR> <BR> The one thing that does temper (just a little) the nostalgia for Cascade early season is the logistics of the mid-station loading on the old K2 double. Problem was, the same lift was used for everything- mt bikers, leaf peepers and skiers. The skiers had to wait at the midstation for an empty chair, which could take awhile, plus *everyone* had to download from the top at the end of their day. The lift, never a fast one to begin with, inevitably had to be slowed further for almost every peeper/biker to load and every time anyone was getting on at the top for the ride down. On busy days this meant a *lot* of lift riding/waitig time...but aw hell I'd do it again tommorrow ! <BR> <BR> I mark ski days on my calendars to keep track of the # of days I ski on my pass each year, and the latest lift-served day I've skied is 6/16/97. As noted, they were open until 6/22 that year and I even have a note that I hiked up to the Superstar headwall to ski a patch that was *still* there on July 11 (have also done Tucks in July) So yeah, all things are possible! <BR> <BR> A last note about combining the 'No Bull' reports and 'Liftlines' chat. I admit I've never checked out the 'Liftlines'. I've also on occasion written Marc to sound off about the 'No Bull' entries drifting from straight reports. My interest in this thread has tempered all that a bit, though I still do like coming to the 'No Bull' page and scrolling through a straight list of area/dates as i've come to view it as such an invaluable source of info on current conditions. It would be kinda too bad to have to extract ski reports from lots of conversational headers IMO, but maybe most will still spring from reports like this one has. It's OK, I'm good with whatever evolves.